Suns forward Grant Hill already became the first active player to be on the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's Board of Governors, and he seems destined for enshrinement there someday for his basketball career.

But for Hill, those basketball honors can't compare with what the Hall of Fame did this week, recognizing him more as a person with the Mannie Jackson Basketball's Human Spirit Award.

Hill was the professional representative, as Chauncey Billups and Samuel Dalembert had been the previous two years. Jim Calhoun was the amateur-category recipient, and the grassroots winner was Dr. Richard Lapchick, the founder and director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.